Throws of ecstasy from Irish giant

We look back at the life of Pat O’Callaghan, one of our finest sportsmen who won the Olympic hammer title to give the state its first gold medal

T
he hammer thrower Pat O’Callaghan is not only Ireland’s greatest Olympic athlete but also lays a formidable claim to be his country’s most celebrated sportsman. The early days of his event had always been the province of men of Irish extraction. Matt McGrath, John Flanagan and Pat Ryan, nicknamed the “Irish Whales”, represented the United States.

But O’Callaghan was probably superior to all of them, winning the title in 1928 to bring the Irish Free State its first Olympic gold medal, and repeating the triumph four years later. He would probably have won in 1936 only for sports politics to bar him from competing.

O’Callaghan was wonderfully talented both in sport and in the medical profession, qualifying as a doctor at the age of 20. In 1931, he won six Irish titles: the hammer, the shot, the discus, the 56lb shot for height, the 56 lb shot for distance and